Madison News

UPDATE: Death of young boy is being called suspicious

FROM OUR NEWS PARTNERS AT 620 WTMJ:

A man accused of injuring his girlfriend's son so badly it caused his death has been formally charged with homicide.

According to the criminal complaint, Marcus Johnson, 25 of Racine, said he was watching the three-year-old child when he left him alone in the bathtub and he "went under the water." He said he gave him CPR but his lips began turning blue.

The mother of the child called 911 40 minutes later.

When police arrived, they saw that the three-year-old "had a full buttocks burn that did not burn other parts of the body." Police said in order for that to happen, he would have had to have been dipped into scalding water that way.

The medical examiner also found wounds on his face consistent with being punched in the face, and what looked like seven or eight whip-like marks on his legs. She also saw numerous bruises all over his body.

Johnson had been charged with First-Degree Intentional Homicide, Repeater.

The funeral for the child will be held in Racine on Wednesday, May 15. The family asks that people wear blue ribbons to stand against child abuse.

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5/13

Mount Pleasant police have made an arrest in the death of a 3-year-old boy.

According to Mount Pleasant Police Chief Tim Zarzecki, police and paramedics received a call at about 10:10 a.m. Friday for an unresponsive child.

Later that day, police arrested a male on tentative charges of first-degree intentional homicide in connection with the child's death. He's being held at the Racine County Jail pending formal charging by the district attorney's office.

Payne tells the Journal Times (http://bit.ly/17i3eUN) that medical examiner officials started the boy's autopsy Saturday morning but results likely won't be available until Monday.

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5/11

Mount Pleasant police are investigating the death of a 3-year-old boy.

Police Chief Tim Zarzecki says police got a call around 10:10 a.m. Friday about an unresponsive boy. The boy was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

Zarzecki calls the death suspicious.

Racine County Medical Examiner Mike Payne would not elaborate but says it was not a natural death.

The Journal Times (http://bit.ly/ZOqAda) reports the police chief says no one was in custody as of Friday afternoon.